Primary tasks

Abstract

Tax policy is one of the most challenging and controversial components of state governance. Determining how and from whom to collect revenue involves questions of equity, fairness, efficiency, and simplicity. As a result, states often create special tax commissions before attempting major tax reform. This brief discusses who establishes commissions, who serves on commissions, who advises commissions, what commissions recommend, and if and when their reports lead to changes in state tax policy. This brief was updated in November 2016 to include state tax commissions in Delaware, Florida, and Rhode Island. Figure 1 and numbers and text throughout were updated to reflect their inclusion.